Mehbooba Mufti welcomes Narendra Modi's Kashmir outreach in Independence Day speech

Srinagar: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks that separatism in Jammu and Kashmir will be defeated by embracing Kashmiris and not by violence. [caption id=“attachment_3828537” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. AFP[/caption] In his Independence Day address, Modi reached out to strife-hit Kashmiris, asserting that Kashmir problem cannot be resolved by either bullets or by abuses and that a solution can be found by embracing them. In a statement issued in Srinagar, Chief Minister Mufti said she has all along believed that only dialogue and peaceful means can help in resolving issues as the futility of violence has been established all around. “The slogan — Bandook se na goli se, Baat banegi boli se (neither guns nor bullets, only dialogue can resolve the issue) —coined by the PDP (her party) some 15 years ago is as relevant today as it was then,” she said.